2007 Ontario election

Ontario general election, 2007

← 2003 October 10, 2007 2011 →
← outgoing members
107 seats in the 39th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 54 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Dalton McGuinty John Tory Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since December 1, 1996 September 18, 2004 Leader's seat Ottawa South Dufferin—Peel— Wellington—Grey ran in Don Valley West (lost) Last election 72 24 Seats won 71 26 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 1,867,273 1,398,806 Percentage 42.25% 31.62% Swing 4.15pp 2.98pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Howard Hampton Frank de Jong Party New Democratic Green Leader since June 22, 1996 1993 Leader's seat Kenora—Rainy River ran in Davenport (lost) Last election 7 0 Seats won 10 0 Seat change 3 Popular vote 741,465 354,897 Percentage 16.76% 8.02% Swing 2.06pp 5.20pp
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Click the map for more details.
Premier before election Dalton McGuinty Liberal Premier-designate Dalton McGuinty Liberal

Dalton McGuinty
Liberal

Dalton McGuinty
Liberal

The Ontario general election of 2007 was held on October 10, 2007 to elect members (MPPs) of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty won the election with a majority government, winning 71 out of a possible 107 seats with 42.2% of the popular vote. The election set a record for the lowest voter turnout in an Ontario provincial election; only 52.8% people who were eligible voted. This broke the previous record of 54.7% in the 1923 election.

As a result of legislation passed by the Legislature in 2004, election dates are now fixed by formula so that an election is held approximately four years after the previous election, unless the government is defeated by a vote of "no confidence" in the Legislature. Previously, the governing party had considerable flexibility to determine the date of an election anywhere up to five years of being elected. The date of this election was originally presumed to be October 4, 2007; however, the law fixes the date on the first Thursday of October or on any day within seven days thereof if required to accommodate a date of "religious or cultural significance". The date was set as October 10, 2007 to avoid a conflict with the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, which fell on October 4, 2007.

In the same election, there was a provincial referendum on whether to change from first-past-the-post to mixed member proportional representation, as recommended by the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. This measure failed, with 37% of the participating electorate and 5 out of 107 ridings voting for the new system; a 60% supermajority was required province-wide, with at least half the ridings also supporting it by a simple majority.